Side-to-side moving doll eye



Dec. 29, 1970 f H W, SAM@ 3,550,315

SIDETO-SIDE MOVING DOLL EYE INVENTCW.

/f/PVf/V MA SAI/W0 Dec. 29, 1970 H W SAMO 3,550,315

SIDE-TO-SID'E MOVING DOLL EYE Filed Feb. 2l. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet :2

United States Patent O 3,550,315 SIDE-TO-SIDE MOVING DOLL EYE Harvey W. Samo, Maplewood, NJ., assignor to Margon Corporation, Rahway, NJ., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 707,075 Int. Cl. A63h 3/40 U.S. Cl. 46-167 4 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A doll eye assembly in which an eye member is 4pivotally mounted in a housing in a. manner, and the weight of which is distributed with reference to its pivotal mounting, such that the eye member moves sidewise and from side-to-side in the eye assembly when a doll head containing the eye member is tilted when in upright position or is rotated when in supine position.

This invention relates to doll eyes and more particularly to a side-to-side moving doll eye.

The prime object of the invention is to provide a doll eye assembly for a doll head embodying a pivotally mounted eye member of which the weight is so distributed that novel side-to-side movements of the eye member may be produced by movement of the doll head when the latter is either in its upright or its supine position.

The object of the invention more particularly is the provision of a doll eye assembly for use in a flexible, plastic doll head having individual eye sockets to receive independent or individual eye assemblies, the doll eye assembly embodying a housing mountable in an eye socket of the doll head and an eye member pivotally mounted within the housing in a manner, and the weight of which Y is distributed with reference to its pivotal mounting, such that the eye member, normally in a state of unstable equilibrium, moves sidewise and from side-to-side in the eye assembly when the doll head is tilted when in upright position or is rotated when in supine position.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing objects and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to a side-to-side moving doll eye as disclosed herein and defined in the accompanying claims taken together with the following description and the appended drawings in which:

FIG. l is a view of a doll head with which individual eye assemblies of the present invention are embodied, FIG. 1 depicting the side as well as side-to-side eye movements that take place when the doll head is tilted when in upright position or is rotated when in supine position;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view 0f the doll eye assembly of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational View of the doll eye assembly partly shown in section and taken in cross section in line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top view thereof shown partly in section and taken in cross section in the 4plane of the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a vertical elevational view similar to that shown in FIG. 2 with the eye member tilted, however, from an upright position producing a side movement of the eye member in its assembly;

FIG. 6 is a view thereof taken in cross section in the plane of the line 6 6 in FIG. 5 g

FIG. 7 is a perspective View of the eye member;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of an eye assembly of the invention showing a modification thereof;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 showing a further modification thereof;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to that of FIG. 8 showing a still further modification thereof;

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation depicting the action that takes place when the eye member is tilted in response to a tilting of a doll head when in upright position; and

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic representation depicting the action that takes place when the eye member is rotated in response to a rotation of a doll head when in its supine postion.

Referring now more in detail to the drawings, the eye assembly generally designated as A is the type for use in a flexible, plastic doll head D having individual eye sockets 10, 10 formed to receive individual eye essemblies such as A as generally depicted in FIG. 1 of the drawings in the manner more particularly disclosed in the patent to Wolfe et al. 2,696,064 patented Dec. 7, 1954. As hereinafter set forth, the assembly of the parts which define the individual eye assembly A is also similar to that disclosed in said Pat. No. 2,696,064.

The doll eye assembly of the present invention comprises a housing generally designated as H mountable, as above indicated, in each of the eye sockets 10, 10 of the doll head, an eye member E pivotally mounted within and at the front of said housing, the pivotal mounting being about a vertical axis X lying in a medial plane M (see particularly FIGS. 4, 6 and 7) of the eye essembly.

The housing H is preferably made in two parts and comprises a back cover 12 and a front cover 14, the back cover being preferably a plastic component and the front cover being preferably a metallic component. The front cover 14, after the eye assembly E is mounted in the housing, is attached to the back cover by indenting the front peripheral edge 16 of the back cover over an annular ange 18 formed in the front cover. The back cover is formed with opposed bearing slots 20, 20 and the front cover is provided with cooperating ledge parts 22, 22 (see particularly FIGS 2 and 5) for a purpose to be referred to hereinafter.

The eye member E, separately shown in FIG 7, comprises a preferably all-plastic component embodying a frontal lens part 24 which simulates the iris and pupil of the eye, the said eye member having a configuration as best depicted in FIG. 7 of the drawings. The eye member is formed with opposed trunnions 26, 26 which in the assembling of the parts are received in bearing slots 20, 20 formed in the housing cover 12 and held therein by ledges 22, 22 formed in the front cover, the structure and assembling of these parts being similar to that disclosed in FIGS. 4 to 6 of the said Wolfe et al. Pat. 2,696,064.

To obtain the side moving as well as the side-to-side moving actions of the eye member in response to the referred to movements of the doll head, the weight of the eye member is distributed symmetrically about the vertical pivotal axis and is also so distributed that its center of gravity is located between the front surface of the eye member and said vertical pivotal axis. More particularly, the center of gravity of the eye member, designated as g, depicted in FIG. 7 by a dot and there referred to as the center of gravity, -is located in the medial plane m of the eye member between its front surface 28 and the pivotal axis x. This center of gravity g and the positions it assumes in the movements of the eye assembly hereinafter described in connection with other Ifigures of the drawings is also depicted in these figures in a similar manner by a dot or dots.

Referring now to FIGS. 11 and 12 of the drawings I depict diagrammatically the initial or normal condition of the eye member, the side movements as well as the sideto-side movements thereof responsive to the movement of a doll head in which the eye member, is mounted resulting from the above description of the structural features of the eye assembly. The eye member by virtue 3 of its pivotal mounting and the weight distribution thereof as described is normally in a state of unstable equilibrium or unstable balance, this being depicted in position I in FIG. 12. FIG. l1 depicts the repositioning of the center of gravity g of the eye member E when a doll head containing the eye assembly is tilted, from an upright position, through an angle a, resulting in a side movement of the eye member. FIG. 12 depicts inter alia the repositioning of the center of gravity g of the eye member E when a doll head containing the eye assembly is rotated when in supine position over an angle c, resulting in a side movement of the eye member.

Referring now more specifically to FIG. 11 it will be seen that when a doll head in upright position is tilted through an angle a the center of gravity g will be shifted from a center position 1 to a position 2 left of center along a line indicated as l, this resulting in pivotally rotating the eye member and shifting the eye lens 24 from the full line position to the dotted line position shown in this figure. Similarly when the doll head is tilted from its upright position in the opposite direction the eye member will be rotated to shift the eye lens 24 to the opposite side, this being depicted in FIG. of the drawings. When the doll head located in a tilted position as shown in FIG. 11 is moved while upright to a tilted position shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings, over an angle 2a (shown in FIG. 5), a side-to-side movement of the eye member is obtained with a snap-over effect.

Referring now to FIG. l2 the position I thereof depicts the eye member in its mounting in a condition of unstable balance as heretofore stated. Being in unstable balance the eye member E may readily move (rotate) over an angle b to the stable position II, depicted in FIG. 12 or to a position in the opposite direction, this as a result of the indicated positional change of the center of gravity g from position 3 to a position 4. When the eye assembly, i.e. the housing H, is rotated over an angle c (which angle is the sum of angle b and angle d) from its position II to its position III, the eye member will be moved sidewise about its pivotal axis with a snap-over action to the position shown as position III (solid lines) due to the initial positional change of the center of gravity g from position 4 to position 6. The eye member shown in dotted lines in this position will rotate further to the position shown in solid lines, moving the center of gravity g from position 6 to position S, due to the action of the gravity. A similar rotation of the eye assembly in the opposite direction will produce a similar snap-like sidewise movement of the eye member. A rotation of the eye member from its position III to a similar position in the opposite direction will produce a snap-over side-toside movement of the eye member. The angle d indicates the angle over which, due to inertia and friction of the parts, the eye member will have a slow or retarded movement; and movement over the remaining angle 2b produces the rapid and snap-like side, or side-to-side movement of the eye member.

Reverting to the structure shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, the eye member E, made in the form of a hemispherical hollow plastic shell, is provided rearwardly with extending parts 30, 30 integral with the shell, formed with and strengthened by a semi-circular part 32, which extending parts engage with the side walls 34, 34 of the housing back cover 12 to form end stops for the pivotal movements of the eye member.

FIGS. '8, 9 and 10 show modifications of the eye assembly of the invention. In FIG. 8 the eye member E' comprises a simple hemispherical hollow plastic shell, the back circular edge of which is arranged to engage studs 36, 36 integral with the back cover 12 of the housing CTI H to define the end stops for the pivotal movements of the eye member. In FIG. 9 a similarly structured eye member E is associated with a shortened back cover 122, the rear wall of the back cover being engaged by the back circular edge of the eye member E' for defining the end stops for the pivotal eye movements. In FIG. l0 a similarly structured eye member E is provided with an extending part 30 adapted to engage studs 38, 38 integral with the back cover 123 for determining the stop positions of the eye member.

The structure and the relation of the parts which characterize the elements of the eye asembly of the invention and the functioning of the eye member to produce the side movements as well as the side-to-side movements of the eye member when incorporated into a doll head in response to various movements imparted to the doll head will in the mean be fully apparent from the above detailed description of the structure of the eye assembly and of the diagrammatic representations of the operations thereof.

It will be further apparent that changes may be made in the structure of the components of the eye member without departing from the spirit of the invention defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A side-to-side moving doll eye assembly for use in a exible, plastic doll head having individual eye sockets to receive individual eye assemblies, said eye assembly comprising a housing mountable in an eye socket of the doll head, an eye member mounted within said housing for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, the weight of said eye member' being distributed symmetrically about said vertical axis, the weight of said eye member being also distributed so that its center of gravity is located between the front surface of said eye member and said vertical pivotal axis, whereby the eye member moves about its vertical axis in its housing when the doll head is either tilted from its upright position or rotated from its supine position.

2. The doll eye assembly of claim 1 in which the weight of the eye member is distributed symmetrically in relation to a medial plane of the eye mmeber which includes said vertical axis, and the center of gravity of the eye member is located in said medial plane between the front surface of the eye member and said vertical axis, whereby the eye member is normally in a position of unstable equilibrium and side-to-side movements of the eye member is effected when the center of gravity is shifted either to one side or the other of said pivotal axis, by either tilting the head from an upright position or rotating the head from a supine position.

3. The doll eye assembmly of claim 1 in which the doll eye member comprises a hemispherical hollow plastic shell formed frontally with pupil and iris parts and provided rearwardly with opposed trunnions for the pivotal mounting thereof, the eye member and the housing being provided with parts integral therewith coacting to form stops for the sidewise movements of the eye member.

4. The doll eye assembly of claim 3 in which the stop parts on the eye member comprise oppositely positioned and rearwardly extending pieces arranged to engage the opposite side walls of the housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1960 Brundey 46-167 5/1968 Bonanno 46-168 

